Does anyone know who owns the leasehold on Ft. Belvedere now? Is it still a Crown Estate property?
Found the answer. It's still owned by the Crown Estate and let to a Canadian businessman if Wikipedia is accurate. I'd love to see inside.

Wow...that's a very nice potential country estate for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Please can I help a little?

The Crown Estates granted a lease of the property some years ago to Galen Weston. Although Galen Weston is very well known as the multibillionaire owner of Associated British Foods and a number of very well known shops round the world [Holt Renfrew in Canada, Fortnum and Mason in London, Brown Thomas in Dublin etc] he is very well known in royal circles because he was the patron [owner] of the Maple Leafs (sic) Polo team for which Prince Charles played many times.

I am sure that Galen Weston would like to 'stay put'. He has family including a son, Galen Weston junior, who I am sure likes Fort Belvedere.

Would think that William and Catherine might prefer Gloucestershire: Prince William plays polo at the Beaufort Polo Club.

The Crown Estates granted a lease of the property some years ago to Galen Weston. Although Galen Weston is very well known as the multibillionaire owner of Associated British Foods and a number of very well known shops round the world [Holt Renfrew in Canada, Fortnum and Mason in London, Brown Thomas in Dublin etc] he is very well known in royal circles because he was the patron [owner] of the Maple Leafs (sic) Polo team for which Prince Charles played many times.

I am sure that Galen Weston would like to 'stay put'. He has family including a son, Galen Weston junior, who I am sure likes Fort Belvedere.

Would think that William and Catherine might prefer Gloucestershire: Prince William plays polo at the Beaufort Polo Club.

Hope this is of interest,

Alex

I second your opinion that the Weston's would like to stay put and that the BRF is probably very happy with their tenants, especially as Galen Weston is spending a lot of his fortune to update the Fort. The most current pictures I have seen are in a book featuring the designs of interior decorator John Stefanides, who was hired by the Westons's at one point in their efforts to bring the Fort's mod cons up to standard! Here is a link to the book at amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Rooms-Design-D.../dp/0297794051

I don't think that will happen. It was a long time ago, but the queen still remembers the things that were said about what went on there. Once William is the Prince of Wales, and Granny is cooling her heels in SGC, maybe.

There will be plenty of other options for country estates for William. He already has Amner in Norfolk. Highgrove and a house in Wales will be inherited as part of the Duchy of Cornwall. Plus they can always stay with the Middletons at their house in Berkshire if they need to be in the area.

Prince Edward stated that the Fort had first caught his eye in the late 1920's. In 1930 it became vacant.

'When I went to my father to ask whether I might live there, he was surprised. "What could you possibly want that queer old place for? Those damn weekends, I suppose." But then he smiled, "Well, if you want it, you can have it." '

Edward described the Fort as it was then as a pseudo-Gothic hodge-podge. 'An intrusion of yew trees kept one side of the house in perpetual shadow, staining the walls with green, acidulous mould. The garden was untended; the surrounding undergrowth was wild and untidy. But the half-buried beauty of the place leaped to my eye'.

He describes pressing his weekend guests into 'arduous physical labour to which some of them were unaccustomed. Groaning and grunting, they joined me in hacking out the undergrowth, pruning trees and transplanting shrubs; but presently they began to share my enthusiasm. Even my brother Bertie, who lived nearby in the Great Park at Royal Lodge, would come over to lend a hand.'

(He also had fulltime gardeners, who were off duty on Saturday afternoons and Sundays.)

Thanks for the article Sun Lion. What a lovely and remarkable place this Fort Belvedere is. It's not so huge that it will inevitably become a white elephant or so small it becomes inconvenient for guests. I believe Galen Weston, a Canadian businessman, has a long lease on the house now. His wife Hilary was a Lt Governor of Ontario. If it had been empty I think it would be great for Harry after marriage, even if he would need a couple of gardeners!

I hope the Westons are keen gardeners as I feel the grounds would require a lot of upkeep, even with easy to care for plants. Even before the war Edward, then Prince of Wales, had to rope in friends and his brother to clear the gardens after they had suffered long term neglect before he moved in. I think Edward missed his sanctuary at Fort Belvedere when he had to leave it following the Abdication and no wonder, as it looks a little gem of a house!